Front Row at the QUT BFA Graduate Fashion Shows

Last week sitting front row at the QUT BFA Graduate Fashion Shows took me back to my days as  a fashion journalist in London.

Vivien’s  gamine models stalked the catwalk (a smile or two wouldn’t have gone astray) in vertiginous platform heels creating the illusion of legs that reached the armpits and the audience holding their breath lest there were a repeat of the  historical Naomi Campbell ( at Vivienne Westwood show in 1993) moment and a model toppling out of her shoes.

In its fourth year of graduating student collections the QUT BFA Fashion Show,  showcased this years 17 graduating student collections.

Kirsten Siemon Design – Hannah Millerick PhotographyHenrietta with Student Designer Kirsten Siemon – Hannah Millerick Photography

Two of the graduating  students Kirsten Siemon and Robyn Taggart  incorporated handknit pieces in their collections using Biggan Design 100% Australian Merino Yarn.

Kirsten  was influenced by Swedish knitwear designer Sandra Backlund with her wearable art style handknit accessory/garment.

Biggan was given  an exclusive  private preview of both Kirsten and Robyn’s collections a few hours before her flight departed for London on Friday 6th November, and she exclaimed that she would love to own Kirsten’s piece as it would make a great travel accessory for getting comfortable on airline seats.

Robyn Taggart’s collection featured  an abundance of stylish and contemporary knitwear. Robyn used Biggan Design 100% Australian Merino First Cross yarn to fashion eye-catching detail on merino jersey garments, combining cutting edge fashion with traditional hand-knitting techniques.

An inspirational weekend at Harrogate

Just back from a most stimulating weekend up at the Woolaballoo yarn stall at Harrogate, with Lucy Bush and her lovely mother, Anne. This year I opted to do the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate with Woolaballoo, as they have all our yarns and are doing a stellar job of selling them. I was lucky to meet quite a few loyal knitters at the stall and together we put together some beautiful individually chosen colour combinations, particularly for the Sarah sweater and the Judith vest. It always makes me happy to see other knitters playing around with my wide range of colours and using it, just as it was meant, as a colour palette of yarn to be inspired by. It was lucky that I decided to do the show with Woollaballoo this year, as I went down with the most horrendous tummy flu shortly after arriving in the UK, which knocked me for six, and no food for three days. I was very happy to have Lucy and her mum organising the stall and the running of it.

Biggan with Lucy of Woolaballoo at Harrogate Knitting & Stitching show, Nov 09

I managed to get up on the Saturday afternoon after several long standstills on the motorway for roadworks! But it was all worth it. The Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show is definitely one of my favourites. Not only is it situated in one of the most picture perfect Victorian spa towns you can imagine, with the best shopping possible and a lot of good restaurants, but the show itself has such a variety of exquisite craft exhibitions on hand. Houston-based Cindy Hickok’s masterful machine embroidery of selected bits from famous artists’ best known works, from the renaissance until our time, had me completely gobsmacked. Her mastery of the machine and getting all these famous characters perfectly reproduced in an entirely new setting and with hilarious captions to go with it – very much tongue in cheek – had me back there twice slowly trailing every picture. I could have bought the lot, had I had the money!

Then I saw the knitted boat, yes, that’s right, the fabulous art project put together by the Sanford Goudie Gallery at the Customs House in Tyne & Wear, UK, by knitting a coat and a sail for a boat and putting it to use in the water!!! The knitting had been coordinated by very colourful knitting artist Ingrid Wagner using her enormous knitting needles. I also saw US based Tom Lundberg’s exhibition of beautifully machine embroidered artwork in the form of condensed sized badges, very skilfully executed. Lastly I ran into the embroidery duo Jean Littlejohn and Jan Beaney, whose fabulous embroidered wall hangings I was already admiring last year at the main exhibition. There they had a lot of pieces inspired by the Australian bush, which, of course, struck a special chord with me.

I’m now back in London again working on a plethora of new designs and ideas. I don’t know quite what to prioritise as they all are as much fun to develop and knit – several children’s garments, a shrug for a wedding in Adelaide in December and some commissioned work to get ready for deadlines. But it is all fun and I am brimming over with new ideas. London is a very stimulating place for me to be, as a designer. The enormous variety of art exhibitions, beautiful parks and buildings, theatres and movies make my inspiration soar.

A cuppa with friends

All of us here at Biggan Design are big tea drinkers. So when it came to hosting a small knit-together with twelve of our friends recently, a tea party in the beautiful garden of Biggan’s home was the natural choice.

Sophie, Stephanie and Henrietta

With the flamboyant tropical flowers heralding the Australian spring, it’s easy to see where Biggan gets the inspiration for her work. Nature has an unerring eye for combining colours — the purples of the jacaranda and tibouchina blooms, the scarlet and cerise bougainvillea, and the orange and indigo Bird of Paradise.

Giving Mother Nature stiff competition, though, were the colourful projects we were all working on! Biggan was knitting a version of her Light and Shade shawl in shades of green, while Henrietta worked on a pair of scarlet wristwarmers. Judith was finishing up a lampshade in shades of pink, Valerie was working on Stefanie Japel’s Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug in turquoise and deep turquoise, and Anita was working on a baby blanket in an untraditional light khaki.

Biggan works on her shawl

And, of course, there were pots of tea and plenty of yummy home-baked biscuits, buns and cakes to keep our strength up! The tea was Stockholm Blend from The Tea Centre, a firm favourite with Biggan and Henrietta. It’s quite a common blend in Sweden — black tea lightly scented with calendula, rose, safflowers, orange, vanilla and apricot — and its floral aroma is unmistakeable.

Judith in shades of pink

Apart from giving us a reason to catch up with friends over cups of tea and balls of yarn, the party had a second exciting purpose. Henri’s friend Hannah — a talented photographer — was on hand to capture images of the tea party that will eventually make it onto the pages of our upcoming pattern book, along with recipes to many of the home-baked goodies we enjoyed at the party. We’re working hard on the book at the moment, and we’ll be keeping you updated on our progress.

The Biggan Design team: Henrietta, Biggan and Anita

Re-launch of Biggan Design

   

 

 

Biggan Design launches its first range of super soft premium all Australian 100% Merino First Cross DK/ 8ply Yarn in 64 brilliant colours along with a stylish collection of easy to knit patterns. 

 Available globally from its online boutique:  

 www.biggandesign.com 

Renowned Swedish knitwear designer, Biggan Dups (nee Ryd) best known in Scandinavia for her daringly vibrant colour combinations and easy to knit designs in the 1970’s and early 1980’s has re-emerged after a 25 year hiatus with her own range of super soft Merino first cross DK hand knitting yarn in 64 brilliant colours. Biggan has also just released a stylish yet simple collection of brightly coloured hand knit garments which showcases her yarn range to perfection, demonstrating Biggan’s talent and skill when it comes to knitting vibrant colours into beautiful and timeless silhouettes.

Joining forces with Biggan is her eldest daughter, Henrietta Dups who has recently come onboard as the International Marketing & Sales Manager for Biggan Design. Henrietta brings to the table her extensive experience in the London fashion world, where for six years she pursued a career in fashion and social journalism and styling for publications including: Harpers Bazaar (formerly known as Harpers & Queen), Tatler, Hello!, Shoo and many more.

Biggan put her career on hold when she and her husband Kennerley emigrated to Australia in 1982 with their young family.  Kennerley’s subsequent career in Exploration saw the family flitting from Australia to China and then Indonesia before finally settling back in Queensland in Australia again. This made it impossible for Biggan to continue her business.

However, throughout this period Biggan constantly absorbed all the sights, sounds, and cultural experiences lending a fresher and more sophisticated maturity to her creativity.

Building on her Fashion Degree at Anders Beckmans School of Fashion and Commercial Design in Stockholm, Biggan decided to hone her skills in pattern making at MIT in Queensland. She was determined to create patterns that would allow hand knitters to make garments that professionally fit the wearer no matter what size.Biggan goes on to explain, ‘Ever since coming to Australia I have wanted to create my own yarn from this country’s soft Merino Wool, which is the best in the world. I have also wanted to use my designs with this superb yarn to re-invigorate the ancient and joyful craft of hand knitting worldwide. In 2002, I saw an opportunity to realise my dream and produce a range of Australian yarns that would give this unique combination of softness and abundance of vibrant colours.

’After what seemed like endless researching, trialling and re-trialling Biggan Design is  now proud to offer an exceptionally soft and colourful yarn in 100% Merino First Cross Wool. A cross breed fleece, it combines the softness of the shorter Merino fibres with the durability of the Border Leicester’s longer, stronger fibres with more crimp. This gives a wonderful buoyancy and spring to the yarn and makes it fun and easy to knit with. This wonderful wool is so soft you can wear it straight on your skin, is machine washable at 30^oC in a gentle/ wool cycle, does not bleed, holds its shape even after extensive wear and does not pill. However, most importantly this colour range is here to stay, so in 10 or 20 years time, you should still be able to order the same colours.

Biggan Design is based in Australia and all its yarn comes from Australian wool and is entirely manufactured in Australia so that it can maintain and pass on to you the highest quality.Biggan has intentionally created this range to be like a painter’s palette for knitters to draw inspiration from, helping to unleash the designer within every knitter and giving people the freedom to create their own colourful and stylish easy-to-knit garments that will last a lifetime. When you knit with Biggan Design yarn and patterns you will experience the joy and wellbeing that brilliantly coloured natural garments give you both from their making and their wearing.

All Biggan Design yarns and patterns can be purchased from its online boutique: www.biggandesign.com

Biggan Design DK/ 8 Ply Yarn – 50g/1 ¾ oz net balls – 105m/115yds at $AUS 9.95 ea

Biggan Design Patterns start from $AUS 7.50